Wednesday, November 2, 2016

New farmers have lots to learn

But sometimes there's just no-one to learn from. Lucky for me, I got some help and here's the lowdown

The discs were refusing to turn on one row. The first row, right behind the tractor. So I was pulling the discer through the soil but it, the soil, was just bunching up with the dead weeds in front of the non-turning discs and making an ugly mess. So I talked to Jack up the road when I was there to pick some of his delicious pomegranates and he told me my discs needed tightening and he was right, so I set about to get the tools for the job. Thankfully my brother-in-law came to visit his mom, who lives with us, and I knew he had the tools I needed so I showed him the problem and asked if he could bring a couple of his big wrenches. However he noticed that thing in the photo above and said it was a thing to inject grease into the discs. I had wondered what it was! I'd say it's a grease nipple but I have lots of those on the tractor and they don't look like that. It's apparently old-fashioned, like the discs, and so Marty Thorpe, my brother in law from Stockton, brought up a big can of grease and the attachment, and the discer got a good feeding. Probably the first in many a year. At the same time, we were able to tighten the bolt. Of course to do so required cutting a piece of pipe to make a big washer. And it worked. That's because Marty brought along his friend (and mine) Steve Eales, who grows walnuts. He knew just what to do. Now my job is to go get real washers for the little thing-a-ma-bob that keeps the nut from unwinding and then tighten her back up. So if the rain stays away for a few days maybe I can get my garlic, cabbage, onions and brussel sprouts in the ground! If that doesn't sound exciting to you, well, I can only assure you it's VERY exciting to me and I'm just very thankful to Marty and Steve for the help!!

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Where the garlic will go

For 2017, we will
have six garlic varieties: Music, Spanish Rojo, Rose du Lautrec, Blossom, Metechi
and German Red. These are all hard-necked varieties of one or the other
persuasion (Rocambole, Purple-Striped, Creole). We had three sources of
seed garlic: Harmony Farm Supply in Sebastapol, Fillaree Garlic Farm in
Oregon and the rest from Peaceful Valley farm supply in Grass Valley.
Now getting all those cloves in the ground is a top priority. Also on
tap this fall is an expansion of the green house and upgrades for the
shade house as well as the addition of 8 or 10 more solar panels onto
the barn roof. I'd also like to better insulate the cool room and
freezer room. Hmmm .... guess I better get busy! Next season will be here in the blink of an eye!